


Single Cell, Divided

by rubytea



Category: The Prestige (2006)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-22
Updated: 2008-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-25 09:07:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1643165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubytea/pseuds/rubytea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Molly Wilde</p>
    </blockquote>





	Single Cell, Divided

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Molly Wilde

 

 

He's going to die just like Julia. Albert has kept silent throughout this ordeal, from being nailed into the box through Angier's increasingly desperate and threatening demands for the cypher - and even as Angier dragged the box to the hole with reserves of strength drawn from sheer obsession and hate, Albert has kept silent. Only now, with every mound of earth that hits the box, Albert's panic begins to rise . He's going to suffocate, just like Julia, lungs burning, fighting for air - Angier is going to have his revenge in the most terrible, perfect way and he isn't even going to know it, know that with Albert will die not merely Alfred Borden's ingeneur, but also his greatest trick and his greatest secret. 

Albert now breaks his silence to allow himself to whisper small curses; at Angier, of course, but also at himself for that reckless shot that sent Cutter, whose calm, even temperament would have kept Angier from going this far, to hospital. Most of all he curses Freddie, who has brought Albert here not only through tonight's reckless insistence on walking from the theatre - as good as sending Angier an invitation to come after him - but with every hurt and slight he has deliberately or otherwise caused Angier. Freddie has never spoken about that awful night of Julia`s drowning - even between them, there are secrets - no matter how many times Albert has pleaded with Freddie to talk about it with Angier and perhaps end this feud between them. The bitter irony is that every time Angier has asked about the damned knot he has been asking the wrong man - Albert, who honestly does not know because he was not there. Nevertheless Albert is the one who Angier has made pay for it, from the humiliation of being driven from Julia's funeral to the loss of his fingers - although Freddie had to suffer that too - and now this. This has often been the way between Albert and Freddie. Albert has always been the thoughtful, steady and cautious counterpoint to Freddie's more confident, reckless character. In the workhouse, Freddie's tricks on the drunken, brutal Master would make the other boys laugh - Freddie has always loved an audience - and Albert had laughed too, until it became clear that the Master didn't care which twin got a beating, and as Freddie could always run faster that twin was invariably Albert. 

When one day the Master beat Albert so hard that he bled, Freddie decided it was time to take their chances on the street, scraping by stealing food and sleeping in a filthy, dilapidated old house until one day, when they were 14, Freddie came running in, eyes shining and babbling about a man he'd seen on the street performing "Magic, _real magic_. Running breathlessly Freddie led Albert to watch Bernard Fallon, or the _King of Diamonds_ as he styled himself, perform. Albert was less impressed, his sharp eye noticing the sleight of hand and misdirection, but Freddie was dazzled. After the show was over Freddie approached Fallon with an offer to do anything if he could only learn from him. Fallon noted that a rarity like identical twins was something he could use, agreed to take them on - on a purely unpaid basis - as apprentices. This mainly involved passing around the hat and picking pockets - or _practicing sleight of hand_ as Fallon put it, but sometimes late at night over a penny's worth of gin, Fallon would show them card and coin tricks, and Freddie fell more in love with magic. On those nights Fallon would also sketch out big plans for the future, that one day he would create a trick of his own and take his act to the theatres, that there may be a part in it for them, if he could only figure out how to use them, that there must be a trick there somewhere. He didn`t get the chance to do any of it, pneumonia carrying him off that winter, leaving behind a notebook and a. small box of tricks. He was buried in a grave which would have been unmarked were it not for Albert and Freddie following the undertaker to see where Fallon was interred, then picking the lock and laying a single playing card, the King of Diamonds, upon the earth.

Freddie took over from Fallon, with Albert behind the scenes or often in the audience in primitive but effective disguise, and with Freddie's natural charm and Albert's ability to think up new and inventive tricks word of mouth grew. One day after a performance Freddie was approached by a man claiming to be a magician. He said that Freddie had raw talent, offered to take him on as an apprentice. Knowing that Freddie would most likely be suspicious, the man gave him a card with the address of a well-known theatre and told him to meet him the next day. Departing, he made to shake Freddie's hand. "The name's Milton". Freddie's reply would change both his and Albert's lives forever. "Borden. Alfred Borden"

A final, terminal clod of earth breaking on the box brings Albert back to the present. He won't have long now. What is in Angier's mind? Surely if it was revenge he would have taken Freddie. He wants the cypher. Maybe this means he must want to blackmail Freddie, or bargain with him...does he think that Freddie cares enough about his ingeneur to give away his secret? Albert and Freddie know that the journal is practically worthless, but Angier doesn't. Can he allow himself to hope that Freddie will come in time to save him? He doesn't care if it's for love of him or magic - often Freddie loves magic above everything. That is how Freddie comes to love something, by being dazzled it - by Olivia with her bright hair and sparkling eyes, by Jess - Albert had worried that because he did not love Sarah, Freddie would feel nothing for jess either, but from the moment he first saw her he had been captivated. More than that, the only time Freddie had risked their secret was on the morning of Jess's birth. Albert had been beside himself with worry over Sarah's long labour and Freddie had stayed with him all night, hiding whenever they heard the footsteps of the midwife or doctor. When the midwife had told them that Sarah was well and had given birth to a beautiful baby girl, and would Mr Borden like to see them now, Albert had opened his mouth to speak but Freddie interjected. "It should be you. You're her father in every way that counts" That had meant more to Albert than he had ever told Freddie. They had had many raging arguments over the years, not least when Freddie had told Albert about what had happened with Milton, and the plan he had been forming, a trick like nothing anyone had seen before. Albert had been incredulous - all the time he'd been thinking up simple little magic tricks Freddie had been concocting a huge, elaborate scheme. After much persuasion, Albert had agreed to go along with it, thinking that a man like Milton would discover them within mere hours. But he had not, and the more they got away with it Albert had to admit it was exhilarating to fool intelligent , educated men like Milton, Cutter and Angier. "If we can fool them, we can fool the world!" Freddie had said, but still Albert believed that this was a mere joke that wouldn't last. Then Cutter had sent Freddie and Angier to Chung Ling Soo, and the joke became serious for Freddie. He saw a way out of the grinding poverty they had always lived in, if they could only pull off this trick. Albert always said no, there was no way they could live like this forever. And then Albert met Sarah. His lovely, sweet Sarah. Albert had known as soon as he spoke to her that somehow if he could be with her, everything would be alright. He had implored Freddie to help him woo her and Freddie had agreed - too quickly, Albert thought, considering Freddie felt no attraction to her himself - to use his confidence and charm to make the first move and win her over. The day Albert had told Freddie that he wanted to ask Jess to marry him, Freddie revealed why he had been so keen to encourage their relationship. "If you want to provide for her, you'll need money. Think you can do that on what Milton pays us?" Albert had argued that he would get another job, end this charade, but Freddie had been persuasive. A workhouse boy with nothing, no schooling, no references, what could he do but fall deeper into grinding poverty and take Sarah with him? "Do this, Albert. Do it for Sarah. You won't regret it" And so he had agreed. Not without difficulty, especially when Freddie had said that they would have to share everything, including Sarah. "Can you live with that"

Albert had struggled with that, still struggled with it, but only now, lying in the dark, waiting to die, he realises that he has been selfish. Caught up in his own torment, he had eventually decided that he could live with it, just - but he had never considered whether Sarah could live with it. She had begun to notice things - how could she not? Even Olivia, when she had been with them for only a few months, had noticed things. The first time Albert had been with her as Freddie, he had visibly flinched at her touch. "You aren't yourself today, Freddie" . He had kissed her half-heartedly, murmured something about being tired, about feeling guilty thinking about his family - which was the truth. She had regarded him for a few moments, and with a promise to make him forget bade him to sit on the bed while she stood in the centre of the room. _"Are you watching closely?"_ she whispered, removing her clothes with an artistry and sensuality that, to his shame and regret afterwards, _had_ make him forget.

Oh Sarah. I am sorry, Sarah, he whispers to the dark, makes promises that if he gets out of this things will be different. He'll stop this, tell Albert that he can't do it anymore. Oh God, Sarah...if it ends here, she will never know that the man who loved her with only half his self but all of his soul died in an unmarked grave with her name on his lips.

"Fallon. _Fallon! Can you hear me?_ " Albert wonders if his oxygen-starved brain is imagining sounds...why is Freddie calling on Fallon? Fallon is dead, dead for years...King of Diamonds...Freddie...Jess...Sarah. I love you, Sarah. I mean it today...I've always meant it...

Freddie is holding him and he is gasping for air. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" In the workshop, Freddie pours out generous amounts of brandy for each of them. Albert's hands are shaking so much he can hardly hold the glass, so Freddie steadies them by covering them with his own. "I'm sorry, Albert. I'm sorry" This is the first time in years that Freddie has dared to call him Albert, even here in the locked workshop where they switch between Alfred and Fallon. Albert begins to think that maybe Freddie cares more about him than magic after all. Then he sees something switch in Freddie, as if he knows that he has revealed too much of himself, and the mask goes back on. "Come on, Fallon, only a few hours before the show"

After the performance, Freddie drinks more than usual. Albert reminds him that they should switch, Albert is supposed to be dining with Sarah. Freddie just keeps on drinking, intoning darkly what he will do to Angier to pay him back for this. And then, always loving magic more than anything, Freddie laughs that they could turn today's events into a new trick. "The Professor, buried alive!" Freddie is completely drunk by the time they arrive at the restaurant, Albert knowing that Sarah will not welcome Fallon's company, and even Olivia's even less, but after today he has to see Sarah, be with her, even if he can't be her husband tonight. _I love you, Sarah_ he thinks even as he takes Olivia's hand to take her home at Freddie`s instruction. _I'll make it up to you tomorrow_. Loving Sarah tomorrow will always have to make up for Freddie not loving her today - no matter how each resents it, he and Freddie are locked into this half life and this bitter feud with Angier until it plays out to whatever end. Today Freddie was the lucky one and Albert the one in the box. tomorrow, who can tell? 

After Albert has gone, Freddie allows himself a rare moment of candour. "Something very precious was almost lost to me" He means it today. He means it every day, he somehow just can't bring himself to speak it. _I love you, Albert. I'll make it up to you tomorrow"_

 


End file.
